TDK InvenSense wins Best of Sensors 2020 Award for its Ultrasonic Social Distancing Reference Design Dev Kit

TDK InvenSense was named the winner of the most innovative product in the COVID-19 category of the Best of Sensors Awards 2020 for its Ultrasonic Social Distancing Reference Design Dev Kit. Entries were judged and winners selected on the basis of value to the marketplace, uniqueness of the design, and the impact (i.e., the “bigness” of the problems solved or issues addressed).

InvenSense, a TDK Group Company, is a world-leading provider of the MEMS sensor platforms found in Mobile, Wearable, Smart Home, Industrial, and Automotive products. The company’s patented fabrication platform, MotionFusion technology, audio solutions, and location software and services addresses the emerging need of many mass-market consumer applications via improved performance, accuracy, and intuitive motion-, gesture-, sound-, and ultrasonic 3D-based interfaces.

The company’s MotionTracking portfolio of products and services accurately tracks complex user motions, requiring the use of motion sensors such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, compasses, and pressure sensors, properly calibrating the data, and then fusing the sensor outputs into a single and accurate data stream for use by motion applications.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious respiratory and vascular disease that is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As we all know, COVID-19 is currently an ongoing worldwide pandemic.

COVID-19 spreads from person to person mainly through the respiratory route after an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes. A new infection occurs when virus-containing particles exhaled by an infected person, either respiratory droplets or aerosols, get into the mouth, nose, or eyes of other people who are in close contact with the infected person.

Currently, the simplest, cheapest, and most effective ways of combatting COVID-19 and minimizing its spread is for everyone to wash their hands, wear masks, and practice social distancing. Our actions affect the health of our families, workplace colleagues, and communities at large. None of us are perfect and transitioning to social distancing requires a perpetually conscious effort to maintain a safe distance. Using ultrasonic time-of-flight range-finding to maintain the safe distance to others allows you to focus on what’s important, including work, productivity, and life.

TDK’s MEMS-based Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors enable “Sonar on a Chip” in a tiny size package. From the time-of-flight from one sensor to another the distance is calculated and an alert can be issued to the users to maintain a safe distance from one another.

TDK InvenSense Ultrasonic Social Distancing Reference Design Dev Kit
Ultrasonic Social Distancing Reference Design Development Kit (Image source: TDK InvenSense)
TDK’s Ultrasonic Social Distancing Reference Design Development Kit provides a complete ultrasonic social distancing and contact tracing development kit that showcases Chirp’s CH101 ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) sensor. This complete hardware and software reference design combines the ultrasonic sensor with a Bluetooth-enabled microcontroller to realize a complete social distancing solution, including contact tracing and safe distancing for multiple users.

“Social distancing is one of the key preventative measures that individuals and institutions can implement to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus. Accurate distance, exposure time measurements, too close warnings, and tracking for contact tracing using sensor technology combines several factors to help ‘stop the spread.’ The Ultrasonic Social Distancing Reference Design Dev Kit from TDK InvenSense Chirp Microsystems division delivers all of these benefits. Based on Chirp’s CH101 MEMS Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer, it accurately measures the range between users’ wearable tags at ranges up to 8 feet with an accuracy of 1 centimeter, outperforming conventional ultrasonic, ultrawideband, and Bluetooth approaches,” said Judge Randy Frank, President Randy Frank & Associates.

For full list of finalists in the Best of Sensors 2020 Awards:

https://www.fierceelectronics.com/sensors/best-sensors-awards-2020-finalists-announced